news
GNU/Linux Leftovers
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Desktop/Laptop
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Dead Parrot BBS ☛ What Happened to the Desktop Metaphor?
For a long time, personal computers tried very hard to explain themselves.
You had a desktop. On that desktop were files and folders. Programs opened in windows. Commands were grouped into menus. If you wanted to move something, you dragged it somewhere else. If you wanted to throw it away, there was usually a trash can or recycle bin waiting for it.
None of that was accidental. Early graphical interfaces borrowed heavily from the physical office because computers were unfamiliar and needed a way to make abstract operations understandable. A folder on a screen was not really a folder, of course, but the metaphor gave users a mental model for what the computer was doing.
That model was never perfect, but it was remarkably successful. What interests me now is how much of it modern software has gradually hidden.
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Kernel Space / File Systems / Virtualization
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LWN ☛ Asterinas 0.19.0 released
Asterinas is a project to build
a new operating-system kernel in Rust; it was covered here in 2025. Version
0.19.0 of the Asterinas kernel has been released; changes include a new
graphics subsystem capable of running X.org, "minimal but usable"
64-bit Arm support, better virtualization support, and more.
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Desktop Environments (DE)/Window Managers (WM)
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K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt
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Kdenlive ☛ Kdenlive 26.08.2 released
The second maintenance release of the 26.08 series is out with the usual batch of stability fixes and workflow improvements. Highlights include improved project handling and ability to set the frame count to start at 1 in the Dynamic Text filter which is useful for animation workflows. This release also fixes several issues in proxy clips, titles, and audio levels.
For the full changelog continue reading on kdenlive.org.
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GNOME Desktop/GTK
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GNOME ☛ Javad Rahmatzadeh: Call for Volunteers to Help GNOME Extensions Team [Ed: To review slop?]
I remember back in 2020, people were complaining that we didn’t have enough documentation for creating GNOME Shell extensions. They said it was almost impossible to figure out where to start. They were right, learning all of it without proper documentation was a huge challenge for me too.
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Hylke Bons: Icon for Ripples
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Distributions and Operating Systems
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HaikuOS ☛ Haiku Activity & Contract Report, September 2026
This report covers hrev60060 through hrev60192.
jscipione restored and enhanced the “most used queries” feature in the Find panel.
jscipione made a number of changes and enhancements to the volume control replicant, including proper support for indicating and controlling mute status, dropping the confusing “control physical output” option and other superfluous options, and more.
jscipione added an “Ignore all” option to Expander’s alert dialog.
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Arch Family
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It's FOSS ☛ This Rust File Manager Was Designed for Omarchy, but Arch Users Can Run it Too
Strata is a new offering that can open folders, preview images, and remember the sort order and icon size from previous sessions.
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